My Easter Trip

With Good Friday and Easter Monday, always falling on a Friday and a Monday, it means that we are always guaranteed a four-day weekend every year in Czechland.  We never have to worry about either day falling on a weekend which would cause us to loose it.  For example in December we only get one day off this year for Christmas because the 24th and 25th fall on Saturday and Sunday.

The catch is where to travel to during the four day weekend because most things are closed on Friday and Monday.  I had planned to visit Banja Luka in 2020 because (1) it's been on my list of places to visit for several years and (2) because most people there are Orthodox it means that their Easter isn't until 24 April so everything will be open while I'm here.

I even flew on Ryanair to get here.  Well, sort of.  I flew on Lauda which flies on behalf of its parent company which is Ryanair.  Basically it's the red Ryanair.  I'm still not a fan of Ryanair but the flight from Vienna was just an hour and I can deal with a short flight.

Due to Covid and lockdowns, I haven't seen Katka in about three years.  I caught the train to Vienna and she met me at the main station.  It was so good to see her and to catch up over lunch.  We got caught in some rain on the way back to the station.  It then started to hail which was a surprise.  

Steve and the kids met up with us at the Mitte station.  I can't believe how big they have gotten.  So freaking cute.  Hopefully the whole family will be able to make it to Czechsgiving this year.  

So I'm finally on my Easter trip in Banja Luka.  Just two years later than originally planned.  Now it's time to grab some breakfast and see if the city was worth the wait.

SkyUp Airlines Coming to Brno

SkyUp Airlines is a Ukrainian low-cost airline that opened in 2018.  It currently has 11 planes flying to 33 different destinations and soon Brno will be one of them.

The Ukrainian State Aviation Commission approved the airline to begin 7 new routes between Ukraine and Czechland from April 2021.  The airline already had routes to Prague but all flights are currently suspended due to COVID-19.  I'm not so sure that things will be much better by April but let's hope.

The plan is to have flights going from Kyiv to Prague, Pardubice, Ostrava, and Brno.  There will also be flights from Prague to Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Zaporizhia.

They will also fly from Bratislava to Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

Currently, again due to COVID-19, there are no passenger flights right now at the Brno Airport.  

Ryanair permanently cancelled its route between Brno and Bergamo (Milan) last year.  In Spring they should resume regular flights to London Stansted.  I still avoid Ryanair as much as possible because they suck.  The good news is that once SkyUp does actually begin flying to Brno there will be two airlines flying to Brno, even if one of them is Ryanair.

Update March 2021:  Due to COVID-19, SkyUp flights from Brno are delayed until at least June 2021.  Ryanair will resume flights to London Stansted and Bergamo in May 2021.

BER Finally Opens

Well it finally happened.  The new Berlin Brandenburg Airport opened on 31 October 2020.  It was supposed to open back in 2011.  Six later opening dates were also missed.  So much for German engineering.

BER was supposed to be a hub for Airberlin, Germania, Germanwings, Easyjet, and Lufthansa.  Well Airberlin closed in 2017, Germania closed in 2019, and Germanwings closed in April 2020. 

There were two airports in Berlin.  Tegel (TXL) in the north and Schönefeld (SXF) in the south-east part of the city.

BER has three terminals.  Terminal 1 is the brand new terminal.  Terminal 2 was supposed to be for the low cost airlines but it's currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Terminal 5 is actually the former Schönefeld Airport which is primarily for Ryanair and some charter flights but it too is currently closed due to decreased demand due to COVID-19.

I remember that the first European protest I saw was about the airport.  The original cost was supposed to be €2,83 billion ($3.47 billion) but in the end it was around €7 billion ($8.59 billion).

Here's a short video I found out on YouTube that gives a bit of the history of Berlin's airports.

©Al Jazeera

Here's a really good 7 minute video that goes in to all of the problems and what all exactly went wrong.

©DW News

Meeting My Cousin

Who does't fly to Italy for lunch?  Well that's what I did this weekend.  So what had happened was...

My aunt wrote me a message that her granddaughter, so my 2nd cousin, whom I've never met, is studying in Florence.  We got in contact on Facebook and planned to meet yesterday in Milan.  

I had a 7:15 flight from Vienna to Bergamo and then an hour bus ride to Milan.  I booked a B&B so I dropped off my backpack, had a short nap and then headed out to meet Azalea.

I took her to lunch and we traded some family stories.  Afterwards we walked around the city a bit before she had to catch her train back.  I don't have any contact with that side of the family so I wasn't quite sure how this would end up.  I'm glad that I did it for my aunt and Azalea really is a sweet girl.  She's only got a couple of weeks left in Italy before she goes back home to California so I'm glad that I did this.

Although I wasn't so happy this morning.  I had to leave before 3 am to catch a bus to the main station, then another bus back to Bergamo for my 6:40 Ryanair flight.  I hate Ryanair, and the middle of night travelling wasn't ideal, but at least it was a direct flight to the Brno Airport and I was back home in my flat by 9:30 this morning.

Ryanair Sucks!

I'm over Ryanair.  They suck!  To me, they are the "blue devil".

I'm not being a snob and I've got no problem with discount airlines.  I've flown several of them without any issue.  I just don't like how Ryanair treats their staff or their passengers.  Constant changing luggage requirements, additional visa checks that prevent non-EU citizens from using mobile boarding passes, late flights, uncomfortable seats,...the list goes on and on.  I wasn't happy with them in July when they cost me an extra €100 and almost ruined my birthday trip to the Aran Islands.

Last night, my flight to London Stansted was an hour late leaving Brno Airport.  It then took 45 minutes for my luggage to show up on the baggage carousel.  Then 40 minutes before my flight to Dublin, they announce a two-hour delay.   There went my plan to catch public transport and I needed to spend €40 on a taxi.

It will be a quite a while before I ever get on another Ryanair flight.

I'll stick to British Airways.  And when I have a discount airline option I'll limit myself to Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, Norwegian, FlyBe, Air Baltic, or Easyjet.

Update:  FlyBe ceased operations in 2020.

Aran Islands, Ireland

I had a fantastic birthday this weekend in Ireland!  No thanks to Ryanair.  I was supposed to fly on Friday evening with Ryanair from Brno Airport to London Stansted, followed by a late night flight to Dublin.

On Monday I received an e-mail from Ryanair that my London to Dublin flight was cancelled due to an employee strike.  They offered to refund my flight but they wouldn't do anything about the Brno to Stansted flight since it was still flying.  My only option was to catch an Aer Lingus flight from Prague to Dublin.  It cost me a half-day of vacation and an extra €100 but I managed to get to Dublin on time.

On Saturday morning we had an early morning, almost three-hour, train ride from Heuston Station to Galway and then on to Connemara Airport for our flight to the Aran Islands.

The Aran Islands, Oileáin Árann, are three islands off the west cost of Ireland.  The three islands are about 46 km² (18 square miles) and date back over 350 million years.  The Aran Islands are in the Gaeltacht which means that the 1200 inhabitants speak Irish as their first language.    

The largest, and most western island, is Inishmore, Inis Mór.  From Galway it's a 40-minute ferry ride.

The middle, and second-largest island is Inishmaan, Inis Meáin.  It's a 45-minute ferry ride.  

The smallest island is Inisheer, Inis Oírr.  It's about a 55-minute ferry ride from Galway.

The fastest way to get to Inishmore is an 8-minute flight.  At check-in, each passenger is weighed on a scale which determines where they seat you on the airplane.

Our first stop was a Dún Aonghusa which is a Bronze Age fort that sits on a 100 metre (330 feet) cliff over the Atlantic Ocean.






Teampall Mic Duach is a church dating back to the 7th century.




The Seven Churches, Dísert Bhreacáin, are on the west end of Inishmore.  In spite of the name, there are only two churches still standing.  

The churches date back to the 8th - 13th centuries.

We ended our sightseeing on the island with lunch in Kilronan before getting weighed again and another 8-minute flight back to Galway.

Galway Cathedral

We only had a short amount of time in Galway before we caught the last train back to Dublin.










Galway is definitely on the list of places to explore further.

Again, an awesome birthday weekend!

Eilat Trip Summary

We had a great time on our Middle East adventure last week.  Eilat was the perfect place for some quiet beach time.  Especially last week when a cold blast of snow and freezing wind set record low temperatures across Europe.

Thanks to the Sibiřská zima, Siberian cold, Brno was -14℃ (7℉).  I definitely felt friends freezing back home while it was 28℃ (82℉) on the beach.




On Monday we went to Egypt and visited Saint Catherine's Monastery.

Egypt has long been a popular beach holiday destination for Czechs.  The number of tourists declined after the revolution in 2011 but have steadily increased the last couple of years.

On Wednesday we took our long day trip to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

I can definitely see going back to spend some more time at the Dead Sea.  Quite the experience.

Then we went in to Palestine to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Something I didn't understand was that the Oslo II Accord actually divided up the West Bank into three different areas.  Area A is where the Palestinian Authority has administrative control, Area B is co-administered with Israel, and Area C contains settlements only controlled by Israel.

Israelis are not allowed to enter Area A.  This sign warns that it is both dangerous and against the law for Israeli citizens to enter Area A.


On Friday we took our tour to Petra.  It was even better than I thought it would be.  The carvings were so cool.  I wish we had more time to really explore Petra but we hit the major highlights.  I'm glad that we didn't stay over though because Jordan is ridiculously expensive.

Since 2013, Israel no longer stamps your passport.  Instead you receive a paper ticket every time you enter or exit the country which you hold on to.  There are several counties which won't let you enter if there's any evidence in your passport that you've been to Israel.

Taba visa stamps

The thing is that Egypt and Jordan do stamp your passport.  So there's now evidence in my passport that I used the Taba border crossing in Egypt, and since the only country that one can get to from here is Israel, which means it's pretty easy to figure out where I've been.

Israeli border crossing to Jordan

It's the same story with the Jordanian border crossing.  My passport now won't let me enter Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen.

Aqaba, Jordan, across the Red Sea

While not immediate travel destinations I would like to eventually go to Iran and Lebanon.  I'll either have to get a second U.S. passport, which will only be valid for two years, but won't show evidence of having been in Israel.  Or I wait until I eventually get a Czech passport.


The rest of the time we just relaxed on the beach and enjoyed our time in Eilat.

Mall security

Mall security is no joke in Israel.  According to the law, you can enter only a shopping centre after clearing security.  Your bags will be searched and you go through a metal detector.  It's quick and easy and you don't have to remove your shoes like at an airport.

The biggest surprise actually came when we left.  Ryanair says to be at the airport at least two hours before your flight.  However, Israeli airport regulations state that passengers should arrive at least three hours prior to your flight in order to clear security.  It took us about 2,5 hours to make it to the gate.

First you get in line to talk to a security who asks a few questions and looks through your passport.  I think there's a bit of racial profiling that goes on as well.  We were then split up and asked the same questions again separately.  It didn't seem to be a problem that we had gone to Egypt or Jordan but security had lots of questions about out visit to Morocco a year ago.  Why did I go to Morocco?  Do I know anyone there? What did I do?  Did I meet anyone there?  It took a while to explain that it was just a day trip and again, a year ago.

"2" is low risk but "6" is the highest risk

After about five minutes they put a yellow sticker on my passport and I could then get in the queue for baggage inspection.  All of your bags go through a screening machine.  Some people were told to remove iPads but I wasn't so I left it in the bag.  Depending on the number on the yellow passport sticker, some people had to then go to another bag check where they had open their bags and watch an official inspect every item.  I'm glad that this didn't happen to me.  Then you go to the airline counter and check in your bag.  After this you then go through "normal airport security" where you remove your liquids from your carry-on, take off your shoes and pass through metal detectors.  Then you go to passport control and then finally you are cleared to go to the gate.  Super thorough but you can definitely feel safe at an Israeli airport.

No More Surcharging

Effective today new EU regulations go in to effect and I'm very happy about it.

Now when you pay for something in the EU with either your credit or debit card, the seller is no longer allowed to charge an extra fee.  Yes!  No more surcharging.

Ryanair used to do this and it always pissed me off.  Now they aren't allowed to charge me a fee for paying with my card.  It's about bloody time.

The rule applies to all card purchases, in shops or online, made in any EU country.

American Express or Diners Club cards, or corporate credit cards where the employer is billed can still be charged an extra fee.

Another new rule has to do with direct debits to your bank account.  If you cancel a service but your account is still auto-debited, then you now have the right to have the payment refunded within 8 weeks.

Cancelled Eindhoven Route

Wizz Air has cancelled its regular flight between Brno and Eindhoven.  Apparently due to low demand which seems odd because the route always seemed pretty full.  Wizz Air has been flying the Brno-Eindhoven route twice a week for the past six years.  The last flight will be at the end of October 2017.

Wizz Air is a low-cost Hungarian airline based in Budapest.  Like Ryanair, it prefers to land at smaller or secondary airports in order to keep costs low.  They then nickel and dime you for every little thing.  I've flown them from several times and I actually prefer them to Ryanair.

Eindhoven is 125 km (78 miles) to Amsterdam, Netherlands.  A bus from the airport to Amsterdam Central Station was just two hours.

It's a shame that they're going to cancel this route.  They used to fly from Brno to Rome but that was cancelled a few years ago.

Currently the discount airlines only fly from Brno Airport to London.  Wizz flies to London Luton and Ryanair flies to London Stansted.

We need more cheap flight options from Brno.  That was I won't always have to fly out of Vienna or Bratislava.  I'm still hoping for a Brno-Dublin route.    

Registered Traveller

The UK and Ireland have their own common travel area and are not part of Schengen.  Every time that I land in the UK, along with every other non-EU traveller, I have to complete a landing card.

You have to provide your passport details, along with how long you will be in the UK, where you're staying, and your incoming flight or ferry information.

What has always driven me crazy is that I've had to complete this for a connecting flight in London Stansted.  Ryanair doesn't have connecting flights so when I fly Brno-Stansted-Dublin I have to go through UK immigration, get a stamp in my passport, pick up my bag and then proceed to departures so that I can drop off my bag for the next flight and go through security again.

In these cases, I write that my address in the UK is "Stansted Airport" and that my stay in the UK is "4 hours".  Sometimes the immigration officer writes "IT" for "in transit" over the stamp in my passport.  All of this stamping takes up valuable space in my passport.

These paper landing cards don't make much sense in a digital age and they cost the UK £3,6 million (+$4.7 million) per year.  Sometime this fall, the UK is supposed to scrap these cards.

I've been accepted as a Registered Traveller which will not let me get through the UK border much faster.  The service costs £70 ($92) to apply and £50 each year to renew.  You have to be at least 18 years old, have an ePassport, and have visited the UK at least four times in the last 24 months.

The benefits of being a registered traveller is that now when I arrive in the UK, I (a) no longer have to complete a landing card, and (b) I get to use the arrival lines reserved for UK/EU citizens.  No more having to use the non-EU lanes which all require a conversation with an immigration officer and tend to take much longer to get through.  There's also no fingerprint check.

I'll get to use the UK lines at the following airports:  Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted, and Manchester.  At all other UK airports I will still need to use the non-EU arrival lines.  But these are the major airports so not a big deal.  It will also work at the Eurostar terminals in Brussels, Lille, and Paris.

The registered traveller service is open to citizens of Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Uruguay, and the USA.

I understood that I should have received some kind of card but they ran out.  Instead a sticker was placed on the back of my passport.

If only Ireland would come up with something similar because I get annoyed with the third degree every time I arrive at Dublin Airport.

Update: 20 May 2019 - Americans get to use the ePassport gates so my registered traveller status is no longer needed.

Off to a Wedding

It's finally time to head off to England for the first of two weddings this year.  Liz and James are getting married this weekend and in July Eiko and Tommi are getting married in Helsinki.



Lenka, Féro, and I are on a Ryanair flight from Brno to London Stansted.  Then it's just over a two-hour drive to near Stroud where the wedding is.